UPCOMING EVENTS

Samsung today pulled the covers off of a new wireless speaker that the company will formally introduce at the CES conference in Las Vegas next week.

The H7 speaker features Samsung’s previously announced Ultra High Quality (UHQ) audio and is capable of going down to 35Hz to deliver low bass, according to a statement. Wheels on the top of the gadget will let people adjust the volume and choose playlists from music streaming services.

But what’s notable is that the speaker doesn’t have any smart intelligent assistant built in. Between the Amazon Echo and the Google Home, that sort of thing is likely to be included, if anything is. Earlier today, SamMobile reported that Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S8 smartphone will include a personal assistant named Bixby that’s based on technology from the Viv acquisition. One could imagine Samsung packing Bixby into an attractive speaker like the H7, but that’s not what the company has done.